Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish details of 65 lakh voters removed from Bihar’s electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), ensuring transparency and public access to the data for verification and correction.
Court’s Transparency Directives
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymala Bagchi instructed the ECI to display printed booth-wise lists of deleted voters with reasons at panchayat and block development offices and make district-wise lists available at the Chief Electoral Officer’s office. The court also mandated that searchable soft copies be uploaded to the official website by Tuesday and that deletions be publicised via newspapers, radio, and television.
Aadhaar Added to Acceptable ID List
The bench directed the ECI to accept Aadhaar cards alongside EPIC as valid proof of identity. Justice Bagchi emphasised that these widely available IDs should be included in official notices for voters who have not yet submitted identification.
Background and Political Dispute
The SC had earlier warned it would intervene if there was “mass exclusion” of voters. The draft roll was published on August 1, with the final version expected on September 30. Opposition parties, including RJD, TMC, Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar), CPI, SP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), JMM, CPI(ML), PUCL, ADR, and activist Yogendra Yadav, have challenged the ECI’s June 24 decision, claiming the revision could disenfranchise crores of eligible voters. The bench, however, upheld the ECI’s residual power to carry out such revisions.
